It's a pretty exciting time around the Times-Union these days.
We have launched our e-Edition. The little "e" is for electronic.
Actually, the electronic edition is identical to the print edition, except you can look at it on your computer.
That's right. All the local news, all the wire stories, all the photos, features, opinions, comics, classifieds and display advertising - even our Spotlight weekly television guide.Every page we print - every day - is now available online in a searchable, zoomable format.
I believe there is a great deal of tradition involved with newspapers. There is something comfortable about them.
They're convenient. Easy to transport and easy to read. People get used to newspapers. They grow into them.
I've been in the newspaper business since 1980. Way back then, the industry was scrambling for ways to attract younger readers.
We weren't very successful then and we're not very successful now.
Recent studies - including one by The Readership Institute of Northwestern University released last month - show that those 45 years and older continue to read newspapers, while the 18-24 year olds don't.
It's always been that way. You see, it's something you grow into. As you get older, you tend to see more value in a newspaper.
Even with the advent and growth of the Internet, older readers still find comfort in a daily newspaper, and I think younger readers will, too, when they get a little older.
The tradition is especially prevalent at small daily newspapers like this one.
We've all read stories about the troubles big city newspapers are having.
But we're not like big city newspapers. Where else are you going to find comprehensive stories about the Warsaw City Council, or the Wawasee School Board or the Kosciusko County Alcoholic Beverage Commission?
Who else is going to cover the local police and courts and keep tabs on local elected officials?
And honestly, where else will you find local pictures of deer, sandhill cranes and unusually large vegetables?
There are lots of sources for the type of information you find in big city dailies.
But there's lots of stuff in the Times-Union you simply can't find anywhere else.
Despite all the tradition, it didn't take us too long to figure out that we needed a presence on the Internet.
That's why, way back in 1996, we launched our first online edition. In 1996, our online edition - timeswrsw.com - was quite impressive, but we waited a long time to upgrade it - 11 years to be exact.
Last year, we launched timesuniononline.com which was much more user-friendly and contained a lot more local content.
The latest iteration is our electronic edition, which is subscriber based. All the free content of the original timesuniononline.com remains intact.
When you go to timesuniononline.com, look at the top of the navigation bar on the left. That's the box that runs down the left side of our home page, directly under the Associated Press video window.
At the top of the navigation bar you will see an American flag, our Times-Union masthead and the words:
"e-Edition - Click Here!"
Go ahead, click there.
You will be taken to a page that contains thumbnails - small replicas - of all the pages in the day's edition.
(Some online readers may already have perused the e-Edition. It's been online a couple of weeks, but we didn't want to formally announce it in the newspaper until we got all - well, most - of the bugs worked out.)
Clicking on one of the thumbnails does one of two things.
If you are a subscriber and you are logged in, you will see a larger version of the page that you can actually read if you want to. Above the larger page there is a link that says "Next." Clicking that takes you to the next page. It's an easy way to flip through all the pages of the newspaper.
Clicking anywhere on any one of the larger pages will download the page as a portable document format file, which can be opened in Acrobat Reader. Acrobat Reader is free software you can easily download from the Internet.
Once you have the PDF file on your screen, you can scroll around, search or zoom all you want.
If you are not a subscriber, when you click on one of the thumbnails you will be taken to our premium content area where you can type in your information and a Visa or MasterCard number and become a subscriber.
Once you subscribe, you will be given an account number. You use that number and your phone number to log in.
The "Subscriber Login" box is under that same navigation bar on the left side of the home page. Type in your phone number where it says "Phone Number." Be sure to type your phone number in this format: (555) 555-5555. Type your account number where it says "Subscriber Number." Then click the "Login" button and you're in.
All print subscribers are automatically e-Edition subscribers and vice versa.
If you have a print subscription, check your bill. On it, you will see an account number. Use that and your phone number to login as described above.
If you are an e-Edition subscriber and you don't want the print edition delivered to you, we will provide it - in your name - to members of our Newspaper in Education program, or to a hospital or nursing home.
It's tough to tell where the newspaper business is headed with regard to print and electronic editions.
But at this point, we wanted to give our readers the flexibility to receive the newspaper in the form that's most useful to them.
We want you to get the most out of your Times-Union, regardless of how you take delivery.
